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St
Nicholas, Gayton

Gayton
is one of those largish, comfortable villages
that you get in this part of Norfolk. It is as if
they have broken away from the orbit of anywhere
bigger, and this gives them a self-sufficient
air. And St Nicholas is a large church; if a
Martian came down to Gayton he would have no
doubt that the church was its most important
building, although he might be distracted for a
moment or two by the tower mill to the east with
its castellated top.

Here is,
substantially, a 14th century building, the
nave's clerestory echoing similar churches on the
north Norfolk coast at Cley and Upper
Sheringham.

There is a
blocked rood window in the gable at the east end of the
nave, and the east window of the north aisle has a
surprisingly large quatrefoil window. The tower has
hardly any buttressing, and consequently appears very
tall.

At the top
of the tower, four lion pinnacles guard a dome-like
structure, which is presumably not medieval. The tower is
a bit of a puzzle all round: on its eastern face is the
old roofline, a sanctus bell window which once looked
down into the nave now exposed above the modern roof.
However, stepping inside we find that there is another
roofline, a good distance below the modern one, which
must have been there before the arcades were built.
Presumably, the 14th century rebuilding of the church
used the stump of an older tower.

And the
arcades are odd, too. The capitals seem to step down as
they head westwards. This may be an illusion, but the
most westerly capitals certainly are lower than the rest.

St
Nicholas underwent a pretty substantial 19th century
restoration. Consequently, it has the rather anonymous
character of a town church, but there are a couple of
fine details. That quatrefoil window, for example, which
contains a good 19th century glass of the Lamb of God. In
the south aisle is a modern Jacob and the Angel.

Another
recent addition to the church is a war memorial. At first
sight, it appears little different from other war
memorials, but in fact it was never intended for a church
at all. It belonged to the West Norfolk Oddfellows, a
kind of friendly society, and was displayed in their club
house in Gayton. When the organisation went out of
exisitence, the house was sold and demolished, and the
plaque ended up discarded in the outbuilding of a garage.
It was found, recognised, and restored to its former
glory in 1999, and placed in St Nicholas.

It is a
gentle reminder to us that many WWI memorials were not
intended for placing inside churches at all, but were put
up in social clubs, village halls, schools, banks, shops,
offices, and even on street walls. Of course, many of
these are still in place to this day, but have become so
familiar that we barely notice them - or notice their
absence, of course.